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CLI Errors & Exit Codes

Purpose: For operators, provides common CLI errors, exit code meanings, and resolution steps.

Exit Codes

CodeMeaningAction
0Success
1General errorCheck stderr for details
2Validation failureRun opencenter cluster validate
3Configuration not foundVerify cluster name and org

Common Errors

no cluster name provided and no active cluster set

No argument was passed and no cluster is selected.

# Fix: select a cluster or pass the name explicitly
opencenter cluster select my-cluster
opencenter cluster validate

failed to load cluster configuration

The config file does not exist at the expected path.

Check the expected location:

~/.config/opencenter/clusters/<org>/<cluster>/.<cluster>-config.yaml

If the file exists but uses a different org, pass the full identifier:

opencenter cluster validate myorg/my-cluster

schema_version "1.0" is not supported

v1 configurations are not supported in CLI v2.0.0+. Upgrade to CLI v1.x first, run the migration, then upgrade to v2.

validation failed

The configuration has schema or business rule violations. Run with --verbose for details:

opencenter cluster validate my-cluster --verbose

failed to resolve ValidateService

Internal dependency injection failure. Usually caused by a corrupted install. Reinstall the CLI binary.

SOPS Age key not found

The Age key file referenced in the config does not exist. Regenerate keys:

opencenter cluster init my-cluster --regenerate-keys

Or generate keys for an existing cluster:

opencenter cluster init my-cluster --force

SSH key expired

SSH keys have a 180-day lifecycle. Rotate them:

opencenter cluster rotate-keys my-cluster

permission denied on config directory

The CLI cannot read or write to ~/.config/opencenter/. Check directory ownership:

ls -la ~/.config/opencenter/

Fix with:

chmod -R u+rw ~/.config/opencenter/

Debug Logging

Set --log-level debug for verbose output on any command:

opencenter cluster setup my-cluster --log-level debug

Or set the environment variable:

export OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL=debug

Reporting Issues

When filing a bug, include:

  1. CLI version: opencenter version
  2. Full command with --log-level debug
  3. Redacted config: opencenter cluster validate my-cluster --generate-debug-config